MARKET GARDENERS TRAINING COURSE

What we expect of our apprentices:
The two parts of your character we are concerned about are your attitude and your work ethic.
We are only interested in working with committed people who want to become incredibly talented farmers, and who want to learn the priceless skill of knowing how to grow vegetables for themselves and other people.
* You must be healthy and fit.
* You must be able to do what it takes.
* Can you push through when you are exhausted and it's hot, muddy, cold, raining?
* Will you rebuild greenhouses late at night after brutal windstorms?

We want to see an unwavering hunger for learning how to urban farm/grow food.
Since you will receive a valuable education without having to suffer the hardships of figuring it out on your own, your involvement needs to be valuable to us.
Your attitude, integrity and commitment are VERY important to us.
Why? We want you to be successful!


Abilities
* Experience working in an outdoor environment with exposure to varied weather conditions
* Ability to stand, sit, bend, kneel, and squat throughout a 2-4 hour period
* Ability to lift 20-50 pounds
* Ability to tolerate hot and cold temperatures
* Ability to focus for many hours performing repetitive tasks
* Comfortable handling harvest knives

Our Urban farming courses are intensive.
They are designed to teach you the multitude of necessary skills through direct experience so that you can farm successfully.
We want to instill in you confidence through practicing organic farming methods.

Program details:

Commitment—9-month season
2020—March 15th-November 15th

2 days a week
2 hours per day
144 hours per season.

Tuition fees:

$4000 for the entire season
Payment option—two $250 payments a month for 8 months.

Your tuition includes a $30 bag of vegetables every week!

CURRICULUM:

Negotiating:
-Problem solving skills!
-Communication, negotiation and  agreements (memorandums) with land owners.

Developing a farm:

-Removing grass and weeds properly
-Building the entire infrastructure of land
-Developing beds and building soil (buying compost)
-Bed preparation

Planting:
-Crops that grow well in the high desert
-When and how to plant in all seasons

-Seed depth
-How to plan your crops
-Watering/watering options
-Maintaining crops/bugs
-Understanding what crops are telling you

Harvesting and processing
-When crops are at their peak potential
-Proper harvesting of each individual plant
-Various harvest techniques
-Cleaning and preparation
-Market set up, serving your private

Market
-Set up and display of vegetables
-Customer service
-Breakdown of market


We will design your course depending upon your current skill level.
You will be working side by side with the farmer.

Join us in the incredible experience of learning how to of feed people.

Benjamin Curtis,

fullrotationfarms